The advantages of weight-training exercise machines are widely recognized. Conventional weight-training exercise machines may feature single or multiple stations which enable a user to perform one or a variety of exercises for developing and toning different muscle groups. For example, the various stations of such exercise machines may include one or more stations that enable a user to exercise muscles of the arms and upper body using “press,” “shrug,” or “curl” types of movements, and one or more stations for exercising muscles of the legs using “squat,” “press,” or “extension” types of movements. Such weight machines provide the desired muscle training capability in a convenient, safe, and efficient manner.
Although prior art exercise apparatus and methods have achieved desirable results, there is room for improvement. For example, users of exercise machines come in different shapes and sizes. During the performance of some exercises (e.g. “leg extension” exercises), the pads associated with a particular exercise station selected by the user may not be optimally positioned for the user's body. This may require the user to perform the exercise with the pads located in the non-optimal position, or alternately, the user may need to perform some type of manual adjustment of the pads in order to provide a more optimal position. Both of these alternative may undesirable detract from the user's satisfaction with the exercise experience. Therefore, novel methods and apparatus that mitigate these negative characteristics would have utility.